


To New Beginnings

by ouzell



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Angst, Bickering, College AU, Cute, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Hidden Feelings, Kissing, Library, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Out, Memories, Nostalgia, Pancakes, Probably gonna be some love confession in there, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Slice of Life, alcohol use, breakfast making, gay?, maybe a lil angst, no zombies, obviously, probably some makeouts, very gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-06 09:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13408299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ouzell/pseuds/ouzell
Summary: Luke and Nick have always been connected at the hip, and now that they're going to college together they can finally have a place all to their own. But sometimes, close quarters can make hidden feelings come to the surface when they might not have before....





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> GASp! Doesn't that sound dramatic? Anyway, this is gonna be a pretty short fic, but I hope you like it! I haven't written in years, let alone TWDG fanfiction, but these guys will always hold a place near and dear 2 my heart :,)  
> Enjoy!

    If it hadn’t been for Luke, Nick wouldn’t have even thought about going to college. Then again, the thought wouldn’t have crossed Luke’s mind to go if Nick hadn’t decided to go too. How could he? Nick was like a brother to him, and missing out on seeing him every day was out of the question, even if it would only be a little ways away. (Community college wasn’t that long of a trip.) It really wasn’t all that odd to be so close to someone you’ve known since you were six, was it? Luke didn’t think so, at least. Hell, Pete was all for it! As long as Nick was going to college, it was fine by him. A couple of farm boys could use an education, couldn’t they?

    What little he knew.

 

“Well, I think this is the last one.” Luke spoke as he set down the last of their heavy cardboard boxes, filled with god knew what. Most of the stuff was Nick’s, but he didn’t mind. They shared a lot of their taste anyway.

“Nope, this one is.” The man in question stepped over a few of the other boxes strewn about the kitchen floor, doing their best to compliment the black and white tile with their traditional cardboard brown. This small but precarious task seemed too much for him to handle, apparently, and he wobbled mid-step. “Oh shit-”

Luckily Luke was there to grab him before he fell flat on his face, but the box was a goner. Something that sounded an awful lot like glass shattered and clinked as it made contact with that same tile floor. The two looked down at the sad glass-filled box, a little dumb founded for the moment. As soon as he was brought back to reality, the shorter of the two took his hands back from Nick’s arms. He didn’t like the uncomfortable itch he got in the back of his chest that it gave him, but decided to disregard it. “Butterfingers. Again.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll get the broom."

The other was paying him no attention. He had knelt down to inspect the shattered remains of whatever had been inside, and was very upset by the discovery that it was his prized shot glass collection. “Fuuuck! God dammit, Luke these were important!” He was yelling more at himself than his friend, but his temper was still getting the better of him. His father had given him the first of those, hence the continuance of the collection. The fact that he hadn’t even tried hard liquor and had a shot glass collection didn’t matter, the sentiment did, and he was obviously kicking himself for being so clumsy. He had now resigned himself to grumbling and trying to see if pieces of the glass could still be fit back together. (They couldn’t.) “I always fuck things up… ow! God dammit.” He had cut himself in his carelessness. What a Nick move.

That kind of talk wasn’t something Luke liked to hear, and he knew it was important to nip it in the bud. “For God’s sake get out of that mess, Nick! You’ll hurt yourself. Now go get a towel or somethin’ for your finger while I sweep this up.” The subject in question did as he was told, but not without a ‘hmph’ of protest.

As the sound of running water trailed down their new apartment’s little hallway, Luke finished sweeping up the sad remains of a few shot glasses. From what Nick had said he thought that the entire box was ruined, but it didn’t seem all that bad. As he gathered up the salvageable glasses, one of them sparked his interest. The words on the front of it read, ‘To New Beginnings!’ in bright neon green, red and orange. It was hideous, but relevant. After all, they had just moved into their first place together. Not _together_ together of course, but as best friends. After all, it had been their dream since middle school to have their own place to hang out.

“Hey, that’s one of my favorites. Glad it wasn’t demolished like the rest of ‘em.” Nick had finished rinsing off his cut hand and had what looked like a beach towel held tightly around it.

“What the hell is that, Nick?” It was hard to keep from smiling at the utter goofiness of it.

“A towel. Or something. You told me to get a towel, didn’t you?” The threat of his rising temper started to seep into his tone of voice, albeit unintentionally.

“Don’t worry about it, just come here already so I can patch your stupid finger up.” Again, he did as he was told. This happened a lot, Nick doing what Luke said. It just seemed to work out that way, in their experience. Well, usually.

As careful hands applied ointment and gauze, (it wasn’t _that_ bad, but Luke figured he’d stay on the safe side,) Nick watched with a malcontented expression. “I’m not helpless, y’know.”

“No, I don’t know.” The chide was paired with a smirk, making the ‘patient’ roll his eyes, (but they both knew he was holding back a grin.) He inspected his bandaged hand, and seemed to be satisfied with the other’s handiwork.

“Hey, I know what’ll cheer you up- how ‘bout we crack open a couple of beers and watch one of our favorites?” That scheming smile of his was back, the one that had gotten them chased into a tree by the neighborhood dogs and gotten them sent to the principal’s office on St. Patrick’s Day in kindergarten. Then again, they always ended up turning into fond memories, didn’t they?

But for once, Nick wanted to be the fun one. “I have a better idea.”

 

No, he hadn’t bothered to tell Luke where he was going or what he was getting. He had just thanked him and told him to stay where he was before dashing out the front door. He had left his best friend alone in the apartment they had literally _just_ moved into together.

Well, he wasn’t about to sit there and do nothing while he waited. With a sigh, he supposed that it was his job to unpack some of the stuff they had brought in, so he got to work on the essentials.

By the time Nick returned, he had already started on setting up the TV.

“Luke! I’m back, and I brought booze!” Indeed he had, a plastic bag weighing down each arm with large bottles inside. It was close, but he managed to kick the door shut behind him.

“What?”

“We’re putting that stupid collection of shot glasses to good use! Now teach me how to do shots already.” Usually it was Luke who was considered the party animal of the odd couple, even if he wasn’t as much of a ladies man as he had insisted in high school. Nevertheless, he wasn’t about to jump at the chance to get as drunk as his friend seemed to want to. After all, Nick had already shown how clumsy he was sober. How bad could it get if he were drunk? And with all these boxes in precarious places….

“Alright, let’s do it. You ready to puke your guts out?” That was the reaction he had been looking for. Beaming, the taller but more naive of the two started lining up glasses. He must’ve seen that on TV or something. Luke’s plan was not to get hammered. Luke’s plan was to get buzzed and then let Nick have all the fun getting plastered. He’d make sure that his friend didn’t end up accidentally cracking his skull open or going on an angry stunt, and they’d probably just end up falling asleep watching Adult Swim or something.

 

It wasn’t a surprise that Nick was a lightweight. In fact, it was a little expected. Despite his (not so) tough exterior, old blue eyes was kind of sensitive in general. That was something that Luke had noticed and appreciated about him; no matter how the world tried, he didn’t let it turn him into a truly mean person. Sure he lost his temper sometimes, but he always knew when he was wrong, and tried to make it right. Hell, had he had a few too many too? Here he was, musing on old memories and some kind of dumb friend bond.

Anyway, Nick was very, _very_ intoxicated. After downing three large shots of whiskey, he had insisted on continuing with at least one shot for each glass he owned. After a brief argument, he settled for just half of the collection. One after the other, he downed more and more alcohol over the hours, going from conversational to entertaining and finally, drowsy. After ages of watching (and laughing at) him having his fun, Nick had worn himself out. Luke saw this coming, and sat him down in front of the TV. That way, if he puked he could clean it up easily, and if he fell asleep he’d be comfortable on the couch. Easy as pie. Unfortunately, setting up the TV so quickly hadn’t been easy, so only the VHS player worked. Seinfeld would have to carry him off to sleep on jazzy entrance themes.

It was true that he sometimes felt a little more like a parent or older brother to Nick, but that really wasn’t how he saw their relationship. They’d always really been equals deep down, even if they were different in so many ways. Besides-

“Hey.. hey, Luke..” Next to him, Nick had started to stir, hair messy from his hat being discarded.

“Hm?” Barely a reply as he began to look over. It was just one of many times he would probably wake up and ask some kind of nonsense question-

It took a moment to process what was happening.

One moment, Seinfeld. Next moment, Nick’s blue eyes much closer to his face than he could ever remember them being. And his lips tasted like whiskey… WHAT?!

It was like a fight or flight moment, except… he froze. It was almost as if the moment he moved, everything would change. And he didn’t want it to change, apparently. Nick had his drunk lips pressed to Luke’s and he didn’t want that to change.

Oh God, this was bad.

But he was right. As soon as Luke broke away, the moment was gone. He held his breath, still feeling a little buzz from those beers- or was it just a mixed buzz of exhilaration and anxiety? He couldn’t quite tell. He just watched as Nick stayed close, and smiled.

“Y’needa shave..”

And zip, out like a light.

Luke could only stare. He started to realize a lot of things at once, and not all of them were too easy to accept. He realized that he didn’t mind Nick’s angry outbursts, or his stupid hobbies. He realized that he actually enjoyed taking care of him. He realized that right then and there, the soft glow from the TV washing the two of them in color, he wanted nothing more than to sit with the other sleeping on his shoulder as he was for the rest of eternity. He realized that the person he had known since kindergarten meant more to him than anything in the world in that moment. He had realized that he was in love with his best friend.

Luke was in love with Nick, and all the denial in the world couldn’t stop it- _hadn’t_ stopped it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick is puzzled by the suspicious change in Luke's behavior.

    When Nick woke up, he woke up alone.

Usually that wouldn’t be a big deal, but of all the foggy memories he could recollect from the night before, he distinctly remembered crashing on the couch with Luke. The rest was still a bit diluted by all the alcohol he had consumed the night before. That, and the massive headache he only realized when he sat up. He cursed to himself, then groaned as he got up to turn off the TV. The same Saturday morning cartoons he had enjoyed when he was younger now seemed to be loud and obnoxious, each sound effect another pang of pain in his head. It ached just to think about it.

“Luke?” He had never had reason to worry before, but then again he had never found himself mysteriously left alone before. Massaging his temple, Nick decided to investigate. He wasn’t in the kitchen, or the bathroom, or the hallway, obviously. Upon opening the third door, however, he instantly knew he had found him. The sound of soft snoring was an easy indicator of Luke’s presence. It made him smile goofily to see the other splayed out on a mattress that wasn’t even on a proper bed yet. Well, that was Luke. Able to sleep anywhere. Hell, in an apocalypse he’d probably sleep as sound as a baby.

Tough. It was morning and that meant it was time to wake up. Besides, he knew for a fact that he’d downed much more whiskey than the shorter of the two. Luke tended to do that; he mothered him in a way. It got annoying, sure, but it was better than Pete getting on his ass every five seconds. Besides, everyone needed someone they loved to take care of them. He was just lucky enough for it to be his best friend. That’s why he started to prod the sleeping beauty in the ribs with the toe of his shoe. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead. If I’m suffering through my hangover so are you.” Besides, sitting alone in silence wasn’t Nick’s bag. It made him feel very alone, and not in the cool poetic way they always talked about in books. More in the ‘I’m a loser and don’t know what to do with myself’ way.

All he got in response was a grunt and Luke pulling the blanket over his head. “Hmph.” And he was drifting back to sleep.

“Who d’you think you’re talking to? If I let you sleep now you’ll be in bed all day, now git.” Another sharp prod in the ribs before he resorted to pulling the blanket off of him, earning him another groan of complaint. Nevertheless, the couch potato obeyed and groggily got up.

“Why d’ya have to be so cruel to me, Nick...” Luke’s voice was husky with sleep as he rubbed his face, obviously wishing he could stay in bed.

Nick only scoffed. “Man up already. What happened to wakin’ up at the crack of dawn?”

“Yeah, well, now I don’t have to ‘cause my parents aren’t forcing me to open their Hardware Store every mornin’ for video game money.”

“‘You want breakfast or not?” They both knew that if Nick did it on his own, he’d make a mess, and on their first day in their new apartment, cleaning up the aftermath of breakfast was not at the top of their list.

“Fine, but we’re makin’ pancakes.” Luke spoke as he pulled on one of those worn t-shirts of his. “And coffee.”

“Yeah, and you need a shave.” Nick followed this with a scoff before leaving the room to start on the coffee in question. This caused Luke to hesitate mid-shirt entanglement, brow furrowing for the briefest of moments. He watched as Luke seemed to move on and continue pulling his shirt on. Nick was not about to let that go easily. “What?”

He looked up as if he hadn’t been listening- his mind was in another place. “What? Nothing. C’mon, I’m hungry.” That was definitely a subject-changer, and this was only further proved by Luke trying to brush it off by moving past him and making his way to the kitchen. Part of him felt that it could’ve been the rude awakening, but the more reasonable half of him knew that it was something else. The question was, what?

 

 

 As Luke waited for the pancakes to cook, he contemplated.

When Nick said those very particular words back there, he had stopped thinking completely. In fact, he positively felt his heart stop. That phrase had been all too familiar. A memory of his drunken friend from the night before flashed across his mind, a sea of unease starting to ebb and flow in his chest. If he could have, he would have been happy to leave things as they were, with neither of them really remembering what had happened. At least, it seemed as if Nick hadn’t remembered, which made sense. But how long would it take for him to remember…? And if that happened, what would ensue?

Okay, he wouldn’t think about that. He’d overthink if he did. Everything would just go normally, and if Nick ever did remember, he’d cross that bridge when they got to it. Perfect! Pete would be proud. Fuck, Pete. A part of him felt obligated to tell him, like some kind of honor thing, but he immediately thought against it. Hell no! Guys kissing each other was weird, even if Pete was a fairly forward thinker for the town they grew up in. No, it would be best to sweep it under the rug. Some secrets were meant to be kept. Out of sight, out of mind! (It only crossed his mind later that he would have to see Nick every day. In no way was the subject out of sight _or_   mind.)

“You’re burning those pancakes.” Speak of the devil.

“My bad.” Trying to do so as casually as he could, he flipped the pancakes, whose backs had just started to turn dark brown.

And yet, the act didn’t convince Nick in the least.

 

 

Ever since he had woken up that morning, Luke seemed to be acting suspiciously. There was no end to the number of reasons why, such as a new apartment, not getting enough sleep, or something he didn’t even know about, but none of those made sense to Nick. He knew his best friend like the back of his hand, and it wasn’t like him to act so strangely, especially when it was just the two of them. In that moment, watching Luke burn pancakes, (that part wasn’t odd, sometimes he was just bad at cooking,) Nick decided to get to the bottom of it. Whatever ‘it’ was, he felt some kind of duty to resolve it, and impulse control was the furthest thing from his middle name.

With his best impression of Pete, he crossed his arms and assumed an expectant look. When Luke turned around, he was obviously not expecting it. Either that, or he was expecting it and was just hoping it wouldn’t happen, which it obviously had. “What’re you hiding?”

“What are you talkin’ about?” The dull throbbing in his temple reminded Nick of the headache he still couldn’t get rid of, which he wouldn’t admit was probably adding to his easily flared temper. “I’m not stupid, Luke. You’ve been acting off all morning. What is it?” With this last sentence he was able to maintain a concerned tone, however, because it was Luke. It was harder to get mad at his best friend than most people.

And for a moment, it looked like he was going to tell him just what it was. Then he broke into a smirk, as if he had no idea what he could be talking about. “Thanks for the concern, but I’m fine.” And he turned around to flip over the pancakes, this time a perfect golden brown. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

He just shook his head. “And I don’t believe that for a second.” That concerned tone was no longer present, having replaced itself with anger and a little bit of hurt. Yes, he felt hurt by this, but that would only fuel his temper. After all, anger is only a secondary emotion.

With irritated steps, he left his plate on the counter and headed to their tiny excuse for a living room to grab his hat and keys. No way was he going to keep standing there like an idiot. This whole thing had made him feel kind of like an idiot. If Luke were lying to him now, could he have more lies that he didn’t know about? And last night, making such a fool of himself! Completely blacking the fuck out and having to be taken care of like a child? Sometimes it felt like that was his whole life. He was always being guided or told what to do, whether it be by Pete or Luke, and they expected him to just follow blindly. Well, not this time.

“Hold your horses, Nick. Where are you going?”

“Library. I need some peace and quiet.” He avoided the other’s gaze, and for good reason. Every time he looked into those brown eyes of his, he was reminded of warmth- of home- of the chestnut colored farm dogs he had grown up with.

Luke only sighed and said, “Fine. Get your damn peace and quiet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking back, I feel like not much may have happened in this chapter, but it was still a blast to write! I also did not expect any kudos, let alone 5 within the first like 15 hits!! :00!! Thank u so much <3 And ty for the support!

**Author's Note:**

> Funnily enough, this is based off of the first Nuke fanfiction I ever wrote (and lost) on Xanje. If you want more, please let me know! I appreciate feedback :)


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